My new loud mouthed, football head shaped, crazy big eyed, monkey loving best friend.

I remember  a while ago I said that I was so done with Dora.

Oh.  Oh you.  Silly, silly girl.  Because, see, if I could travel back in time to when I said that back then, future-self would grab old-self by the shoulders and say, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA."

I'm finally back from our three week adventure with my parents, which included 7 full days of driving with the three kids.

JJ and Cam Spam are pro travelers.  They were awesome.  They did great.  Of course there were a few minor meltdowns and few times when I threatened to head to the back and beat them with whatever I could find (just threats people, though, so chill), but overall, they were wonderful.

The Little Miss, on the other hand. . . not so much.

See, she was not happy and content with a video game in her hand.  Not that I didn't try, mind you.  I would hand her the Leapster and she would push the buttons and and laugh at the lights for a little while, but then would throw it to the floor.  Just as she threw everything to the floor.  Crayons and markers (after she ate them) and stickers and little puff balls that she pushed into the lid of a tupperware container (this one lasted about five minutes though before it got tossed) and books, and her puppy, and even her precious blanky.

Nothing would keep her entertained.  Then she would look at me and yell, "STUCK" a word she mastered pretty quickly, and squirm around like a person in a straight jacket as she tried to wriggle out of her car seat.  Of course, this only ended with her sliding down as far as she could, causing the diaper to get smashed by the buckle and move over to the side so it utterly FAILED in its job to contain her pee.

"STUCK!!!" she would yell.  And then she would just banshee shriek. 

So what's a mama to do?

See we of course were also traveling with DVD players and plenty of movies to keep the kids busy.  Well, the older kids at least.  But try sticking an 18 month old in front of the Lego Movie and see how long she stays entertained.  About as long as she did with the Leapster.  So right before we left on the first two consecutive days in the car part of the trip, I  decided to search for a DVD that would keep her attention.

Enter Dora.


My new best friend.  My new loud mouthed, football head shaped, crazy big-eyed, monkey loving best friend.  

It was like magic.  As long as Dora was on the screen in front of her, Little Miss was happy and content to suck her thumb, with her blanky, and stare at the screen mesmerized.  And sometimes she would even drift off into a peaceful thumb sucking sleep. 

So Dora was a life saver.  But. . . the only problem was that I had just brought along ONE DVD that would entertain Little Miss.  And when you're in the car for such a long period of time and you've done everything else you can think of to stop the screaming, sometimes you watch that one Dora DVD a lot. 

It's been just two days now that the whole family has been on the much needed Dora detox.  But things are still a bit shady.

Like yesterday Brice asked me where JJ's pajama shorts were.  And I responded with,

And then I marched around the room singing.

So. There you have it.  Dora really saved me on this road trip.  But not WITHOUT A STEEP PRICE. CAN YOU  SAY STEEP?! SAY STEEP! STAY  STEEP!

Also if you've ever seen a Dora show and haven't seen this movie trailer spoof you should definitely watch it.  I love it so much!

If you're on a desktop I think it will show up and if not click here to see it. It's so funny.